My husband and I have been married for three years now and have one son, who is 2. We are expecting our second (a surprise) in mid-June. I’ve been cooking since I can remember, and my style is always evolving. Guilty Kitchen focuses on the passions I came to love after leaving home. We try to eat mostly local, seasonal food and my recipes reflect that. I also have a super-soft spot for sweet stuff, so that balances out all the healthy stuff. We currently live in a rental house located about a two-minute walk from a wonderful lake. We are set out in the woods with very few neighbors, so one of my favourite things is looking out the windows as I cook. Our kitchen is part of the “Great Room,” which includes the living room and dining room and has large vaulted ceilings. There’s a large island where I spend 99 percent of my time. From there I can watch my son playing, or catch up on the news, or even check Twitter as I cook. I find inspiration in the simple ingredients I use in my food. I keep a calendar of what’s in season and look to it often to decide what we should have that week. I plan all our meals in advance (one week) and grocery shop just once a week to keep cost down. My favorite time is summer when everything is in season and fresh and ripe and you can smell it a mile away, that inspires me. Frosting and/or freshly whipped cream. Seriously, do not bring it near me, or I will eat it all. The only real “ritual” or “tradition” we have with food is around holidays. We always had ice cream cake for birthdays and better than sex cake or hazelnut torte for Christmas. We always had the same dinner on those holidays as well: roast turkey (sometimes goose) with pork sausage stuffing, steamed broccoli and cauliflower with my Mom’s delectable cheese sauce, baked yams, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and gravy, never fail. I have a couple of recipes from my mom but only what I could remember, nothing written down. Now, our only tradition is that I make a cake for everyone’s birthday. I’ve definitely become more aware of where my food comes from and how it’s produced. I educated myself beforehand too, but not nearly to the extent to which I have now. It’s very important to me that my son grows up with a healthy respect for food. Even though I’m all about seasonal/local food, I cannot live without lemons, limes, avocados, and garlic. These items are always in my house. My husband says: Caesar salad, roasted chicken, lasagna, my “Idle Hand Bars,” and chocolate cake. Food blogs I read regularly are: Under the High Chair, The Pioneer Woman, Gourmet Fury, Smitten Kitchen, and Joy the Baker. I actually don’t read other food blogs that often as I am super-busy with my family! Websites I regularly check out besides Facebook and email are mostly news sites. I am so boring!
